Redistricting pitfalls loom for Sitton, Jones

The state's highest-ranking Demo crat said Saturday that Republicans on a state redistricting board not only stuck it to the opposing side  they even shafted some of their own.

"They did as much damage to rural Republicans as they did to rural Democrats," Speaker of the House Pete Laney, D-Hale Center, said.

The new redistricting plan is unusual for the bipartisan opposition it has drawn.

Not only were Democrats placed in new districts that could be more difficult to win, but the plan also has drawbacks for West Texas Republicans  including state Rep. Delwin Jones of Lubbock, and perhaps Lubbock Mayor Windy Sitton.

Sitton had been considered a potential primary opponent of District 84 state Rep. Carl Isett, a Republican who represents part of Lubbock and the southwest corner of the county.

But the new District 83 includes a tentacle that reaches just through Sitton's front yard, taking her out of Isett's district and into Jones'.

"It's obvious the drawing was done to deliberately remove the mayor from District 84," Jones said.

"It's commonly known around the political arena that she was going to run for District 84, and now she's in a district that would be difficult to win because it's just part of Lubbock and four rural counties," he said.

Sitton has name recognition in Lubbock, but the proposed District 83 also includes Hockley, Cochran, Yoakum and Gaines counties.

Sitton has 10 months left in her mayoral term and said she has not decided whether she will run for state representative. Although she did not indicate a preference, Sitton seemed more ready to challenge Isett than Jones.

Sitton hails Jones, a 20-year veteran of the state House, as a friend and supporter of Lubbock and West Texas. When she speaks of Isett, she says she is disappointed he has not always backed measures she thought were good for the city.

"Many, many people have asked me to run for that seat in that district," Sitton said of District 84. "Certainly, I have given that some thought."

Legislative lines were redrawn to reflect population changes in the 2000 census, and Jones was appointed by Laney to draft a House redistricting plan.

The plan passed in the House but not in the state Senate, and a special, five-member Legislative Redistricting Board approved a different set of district lines.

Attorney General John Cornyn, Land Commissioner David Dewhurst and state Comptroller Carole Keeton Rylander  all Republicans  voted for the plan. Lt. Gov. Bill Ratliff, a Republican state senator from Mount Pleasant, and Laney  the board's lone Democrat  voted against it.

In Lubbock, the new district lines use 19th Street as a boundary, and Sitton lives on the south side of 19th, west of University Avenue.

"I think it is interesting that this area has a little bootleg that goes straight up the center of Lubbock and includes my home, while District 84 surrounds the rest of the area," Sitton said.

Sitton said she was uncertain whether Isett influenced the choice of boundary lines, but she has heard that the location of her home was a factor.

"I have been told that members of the party looked at his district, and they were made aware that it would be to his advantage to have me removed from his district," Sitton said.

Isett did not return telephone calls from The Avalanche-Journal seeking comments about redistricting.

Jones said the new lines were devised to unseat Laney as speaker of the House.

Laney, who was in Lubbock on Saturday for a meeting of Democratic Party chairmen, said the partisan motive was obvious.

"There's no question part of the damage done was to dilute sitting members' districts," Laney said. "Some have less than 10 percent of their original districts."

Laney said he has three old counties and nine new counties in his district. Part of his district  Swisher and Hale counties  had been together since 1869, but now are split.

Laney said 44 districts are combined in the new plan, pitting incumbents against each other for re-election. In only one case were two Republican districts combined, and less than half a dozen pairings involved a Republican and a Democrat, Laney said. The other pairings were all Democrats.

Jones' District 83 was combined with District 80, which is represented by Gary Walker, R-Plains. Jones and Walker will oppose each other in the March Republican primary.

Jones' House plan combined only 18 districts and left Sitton in District 84.

"The three individuals who passed a redistricting bill for House and Senate seats were not very favorable to us (Democrats), and not very favorable to rural Texas at all," Laney said.

"I believe the three individuals who worked on redistricting and caused detrimental things to happen (have) sure lost touch with West Texas."

Jones' plan was criticized by some Republicans as being too sympathetic to Democrats. Despite Jones' Republican affiliation, an alternative plan was mockingly dubbed "The Republican Plan."

"It's part of the strategy of trying to unseat Pete Laney as speaker," Jones said. "I have been an ally of Laney, and Walker has been an ally of Laney, so they put Walker and I in the same district. ... The mayor has been an ally of Laney, so she may have become a target indirectly  put all of Laney's allies in the same district."

Laney said he agreed that Jones was punished in the board's plan.

"I don't think there's any question. Delwin tried to do what was right, and he put together a plan that was fair. By putting Delwin and Gary Walker in the same district, and any future opponent for someone else, it's a much more partisan deal. ... It was a very calculated deal," Laney said.

Cornyn, who chaired the redistricting board, defended the plan and responded to Laney's criticisms in a statement released after the plan was approved two weeks ago. He said the board's plan gives more seats to growing suburbs and includes more districts where blacks and Hispanics have a majority.

"We have to look to new leadership, and give the voters a chance to vote in competitive elections rather than in those districts that protect incumbents," Cornyn said.

"If there is one thing that contributes to voter apathy, it's the fact that too many incumbents have safe districts and never are truly contested in elections. We have simply tried to choose the public interest rather than the interests of incumbents."

Sitton criticized the board's plan for putting politics ahead of issues that affect West Texans.

She believes most of the issues facing West Texas  such as agriculture, water conservation and economic development  are non-partisan issues. She said Laney  despite his party affiliation  has been good for West Texas.

"While I am a Republican and adhere to Republican principles, I realize it is imperative for us to work with everyone who can help West Texas. We have to fight for everything in West Texas, and Pete Laney has always been a voice for West Texas and Texas Tech," Sitton said.

"It's disturbing to me that Rep. Isett has not worked in concert with Speaker Laney on issues that would benefit West Texas," she said.

Laney said the final redistricting plan must be approved by the U.S. Justice Department. If the plan is not approved, the process starts again in the state House.

If the plan is approved, it must survive more than a dozen lawsuits already filed in federal courts across the state.

Potential candidates have until January to file an application to run for office. Jones said the courts could waive the residency requirement, allowing candidates to seek election to a district in which they do not live.